This past weekend I went to Great America, my first time there since Fright Fest in 2006, and I feel I need to vent about a great many things. First let me provide a little background about my history with GA. I have been going there pretty much my whole life. During the summer of 1992, I went there 10 times. I have been a season pass holder, and was at the very first Fright Fest. Anyway, the changes that have taken place since the “good old days” are tremendous. This past weekend, however, I felt that there were too many “bad” changes. Now, I know that times are tough financially for a lot of people and companies, but the prices at SFGA (Six Flags Great America), are out of control. The reg admission price is $54.99, plus parking, which is now a matter of who wants to pay more for premium spots, ($25) or if not, you get to park in the back lots ($15). What happened to the days of First Come First Park?? Gone. Getting to the park early before they opened to get a good spot. No longer necessary. Ok, we paid $34.99 to get in, we had the $20 discount (wow.. thanks The first thing I noticed was all the ads. There is a huge Geico sign strapped to Viper. Everywhere you turn now, there is a company sponsoring something. Like wait time, the signs that let you know how long the wait is, are now sponsored by Armitron Watches. Flash Pass (which is basically the way of saying, :if you have enough money, you don’t need to wait for anything) is sponsored by Comcast. The list goes on and on. And oh, the flash passes??? Yeah, figure on paying another admission fee per person or more. So while walking around the park, we are solicited by Bank of America, and some other company that I can’t remember because I was so pissed off, I walked in the complete opposite direction. Now, Like I stated, I’m old school GA. I remember the Marriot days, the days when they had the cable car going back and forth, the Shock Wave, Z force, etc. Imagine my surprise when I went to get in line for the Great American Eagle and found out that the entrance was moved to make room for Wiggles. Are you kidding me??? Now, I understand that the Eagle doesn’t get the foot traffic it used to, but IT was always a reminder to me how great the ride is when I would see the place where I used to wait in line for 3 hours to get on this ride. Now, it’s a view of spinning teacups and 2mph cars for very little kids. I almost puked.
There are a few really great rides left in the park, Eagle, Raging Bull, V2, Viper, Batman.. But there are some horrific rides that I cannot figure out why in the hell they are still operating. Condor being at the top of the list. There are a few classics that should be taken down Demon, Whizzer, and Orbit. My main point is this: If you are going to charge so much money and make the experience kind of like a trip thru the yellow pages, at least give us some NEW ADULT RIDES. How about something like the Top Fuel Dragster from Cedar Point in OH? This ride has many different names, its also called the Kingda Ka and can be found at Six Flags Great Adventure. Give us a reason to keep coming back to the park, a reason to not mind paying $9.50 for a cheeseburger.
Is there anyone else that feels like I do about SFGA?
^ So you are complaining about them moving Eagle's entrance, and then saying they should remove Demon and Whizzer which are both way more historically significant than an old entrance surrounded by dead space.
Sadly it seems that six flags doesn't care about what you want. It is clear that they want familys to come to the park, If you look at Demon, Whizzer, and orbit it if full with kids, and teens in the line. Six Flags lost so much money puting in thril rides that they have no choice but to build family rides. Thats why we get BB next year.
I think the park needs a lot of attention but we don't need any "NEW ADULT RIDES"
I guess I'm not quite sure where you are trying to go with this...
I was kind of confused when you said you remember the "good old Marriott" days, but then think that Demon, Whizzer, and Orbit should be dismantled. I think those rides are still running pretty flawless for being 33 years old. Many Six Flags parks in the chain don't even come close to the selection of flat rides that GAm offers.
(Opinion-based section)...everywhere you go now, there's something being advertised for something, is it annoying...yes, but it's something I've kind of learned to overlook. I personally can't stand the argument about the flash pass situation considering everyone has the same opportunity at 10am to purchase one. Yes, there's limited amounts, but that's like most things in society because everyone can not possibly have everything. People at Disney complain about it too all the time (at least I hear it once in a while), and it's free there (well technically *free*, I'm sure they work it in somehow with the cost of your admission or what have you). I still compare it to a restaurant and reservations. You can "cut" ahead of someone who walks in the door and doesn't have a reservation..and each party had the same opportunity to make some kind of booking for a table.
My take on the food issue is that no one forces you to buy it. In fact, there's an entire slew of restaurants within walking distance of the front gate. I know FF restricts re-enty access after 7pm, but I usually go and eat dinner at an "off-peak" time so that lines elsewhere become less crowded (sometimes isn't the case at FF though, but I usually don't make it a goal to ride many things during FF anyhow..I'd much rather walk around and enjoy the "Halloween" atmosphere)
The Wiggles addition was a better use of dead space. As long as that crew constantly cycles efficiently, the line doesn't get too far out into the midway. Obviously, that's considering both sides are open and running with 4 trains.
I don't think Great America will ever see a "Top Thrill Dragster" because it's too close to the airport, and there's a height restriction set prior to Marriott opening the gates for the first time. While that restriction could possibly change (which it never probably would), the fact that it's in close proximity to the airports would make it infeasible to build something like that....not to mention (at least in my mind) both TTD and KK are kind of like "one-hit wonders". For me, yeah I rode them, but never really had any "wow" factor out of them.
Listen, Im all about the history of the park, and I understand that things change, but if you are going to charge that kind of money to get in, then show us a return on our investment. Give us a few new thrill Coasters. I am planning on going to Cedar Point in OH next year because they have 17 coasters, a beach and they are less expensive than SFGA. Come on GA, change it up a bit.. put the red car or blue car backwards on the Eagle, bring back an older ride (Shock Wave), or keep the park open a little later (midnight) on certain summer nights. Its a 90 min drive to GA for me, but I would gladly make the trip more often if I wasn't bored after 3 hours..
Eagle can't run backwards, it was messing up the track. The height limit I think is 300 feet, so that makes nether Bull or V2 the tallest one we can have. The park can't stay open later because off the area it's in. Not to mention there are little to no lights near the park.
Give the park time to get back on its feet and see what replaces Splash water falls and SSA. Yea we might not get mega coasters , but well get new rides.
These coasters are really expensive. Top Thrill Dragster's initial price was 25 million, but it was a lot more than that. They had tons of problems with that ride, and it's counterpart at Kingda Ka too. That's a ton of money.
Six Flags doesn't make a lot of money. In fact, they have been losing money for awhile now. Why? It's because of the expensive coasters you want, and the low admission prices, plus them buying parks like mad before. You may think that $54.99 is too much, but think about how much all that stuff costs in the park per day? You are talking about employees, maintenance (plus parts), shows, you have to base it on the expenses for new rides / removals, and electricity. You even complain about the high price for admission, but than you get $20 off admission. Who hasn't been getting that low admission throughout the whole year?
Kiddieland is like $23, and they haven't been putting in newer gigantic roller coasters. There new rides this year are at Wisdom Tornado, and a swing ride which aren't that much money compared to what Six Flags puts in. Six Flags spends a lot of money even in the "off" years you don't get a roller coaster.
I agree that the parking is too high priced! I think instead of spending huge dollars on rides like Bucanneer Battle, they should replace some of the flats with newer (even carnival) flats like a Chance Wipeout, or Tivoli Spin Out. Those are way cheaper, and you can get maybe even 4 for a million instead of one roller coaster for 7.5 (The Dark Knight).
I'm willing to wait a little for a flat ride that's thrilling. I'm not willing to wait "that long" for the Condor, Hometown Fun Machine, The Orbit, Chubasco, Big Easy Balloons and so on. Those are good rides, but they aren't great in my opinion. I would love to sacrifice capacity for a great thrilling ride.
"I've been staring at the world, waiting. All the trouble and all the pain we're facing. Too much light to be livin' in the dark. Why waste time? We only got one life. Together we can be the CHANGE. So go and let your heart burn bright"
Well it seems that everyone is on the GA side. Ok, fine. And I am an old time GA fan. My family has been going to the park since it opened. Has yours? I doubt it. And I will go to CP to check it out.. will be nice to get on a ride that isnt 9 years old and doesnt suck ass. How can Anyone say that Condor is a good ride? Superman isnt all that great either, except for the loop, its slow as hell. Tell you what, you keep paying the high prices and do what corporate America tells you to do, buy what they tell you that you should buy.. and I will keep thinking for myself. Sound good??
Since when are they telling me what to do? I have a season pass and season parking, and I eat outside the park. Im doing pretty good myself. We have a good selection of rides and coasters. I mean, I'll actually ride each and every one of ours and enjoy it. Unlike at Cedar Point, where maybe five out of their 17 are enjoyable.
I'm just saying. You obviously don't see what goes into a well-rounded park.
My family has been in depth with amusement parks well before the Marriot days. My grandma was at Riverview every weekend.
You seem very mature with your posts. "Suck ass"
Sorry for getting off topic guys. Have fun at Cedar Point.
I agree, the park is basically garbage these days, though I'd personally want to see Whizzer remain. It's nothing like the old days, just sorta gotta roll with it best we can and hope that it one day is again worthy of being GREAT America.
Favorite Wood Coasters: The Voyage, Ravine Flyer II, Thunderhead, Balder Favorite Steel: Voltron Nevera, Steel Vengeance, Expedition GeForce, Olympia Looping Parks visited: 232, Coasters Ridden: Steel: 894, Wood: 179, Total: 1073
Six Flags is now doing what Paramount did with the other Great America years ago. The "Great America" part of the name is just there for the sake of having it, theyre not interested in anything else in relation to it. People can complain about it all they want but SFGAm wont be like it used to be. There were plenty of people b*tching when Paramount stripped all of the charector out of CGA, that didnt stop them. Even with the direction SFGAm is going in now people still go, so I dont see SFGAm trying to make the park how it "used to be."
Fact is the busienss of seasonal theme parks is in shambles, themed costumes? Would be cheaper to have less staff and less money spent on wardrobe, get rid of them. Small crowds? Close a bunch of rides and hope people wont notice. Classy additions? More cost efficiant to plop something in and give it some cutouts. Seasonal theme parks just arent the business to be in anymore. While SFGAm used to be a lot like Disneyland theming-wise, Disney/Universal grew into some of the biggest entertainment companies in the world and now can invest sh*t-tons of money into new theme parks/attractions, meanwhile Six Flags became, Six Flags. Time Warner selling to Premier was the kiss of death. Cedar Fair which has always been more of a amusement park company than theme park company is just as guilty for buying theme parks and paving over them to build a bunch of rides. Ex: Knotts Berry Farm
Plus you definitley wont see any of "how it used to be" at SFGAm because of the mis-management at the corporate level the past decade or so they dont have any money to now.
The first time I went to GAm was about six years ago, but even in that short time I have seen a lot of changes. You are true about the extreme amount of advertising in the park, but seriously, who cares? It does give Six Flags even more money, but since when was it such a bad thing for a company to try to earn more money? I know that with crazy charges for food and parking Six Flags should already be faring pretty well, but an advertisement is free to look at. You don't have to notice them. Just look away, and don't make a big deal out of it.
I too would like to see some more thrill rides, but if you look at the park less as a coaster-junkie and more as a business man (or woman), you would see that there is a much larger demographic for family rides. Also, families tend to have more spending power than a group of teenagers.
Cedar Point I think is a great park, and so is SFGAm. However, I think that Cedar Point is overhyped extremely. There are a lot of coasters at that park that just are good or bad, and not great in my opinion like the mine train (boring bad), Iron Dragon (boring bad), Millenium Force (boring bad), Magnum (rough bad), Maverick (good because of launch, but rough), Wildcat (good), Disaster Transport (good), Mean Streak (boring bad), and than you have 2 kids coasters.
I admit that Cedar Point is up there in my favorite parks list, but out of so many coasters, I feel only a number of them are great. In my opinion, SFGAm becomes one of my favorite parks because of some of the rides at the waterpark plus the rides at the regular amusement park. Minus the waterpark, and other parks like SFOT, SFOG, SFMM, and Dorney Park are better in my opinion.
"I've been staring at the world, waiting. All the trouble and all the pain we're facing. Too much light to be livin' in the dark. Why waste time? We only got one life. Together we can be the CHANGE. So go and let your heart burn bright"
The first thing I noticed was all the ads. There is a huge Geico sign strapped to Viper. Everywhere you turn now, there is a company sponsoring something. Like wait time, the signs that let you know how long the wait is, are now sponsored by Armitron Watches. Flash Pass (which is basically the way of saying, :if you have enough money, you don’t need to wait for anything) is sponsored by Comcast. The list goes on and on. And oh, the flash passes??? Yeah, figure on paying another admission fee per person or more. So while walking around the park, we are solicited by Bank of America, and some other company that I can’t remember because I was so pissed off, I walked in the complete opposite direction. Now, Like I stated, I’m old school GA. I remember the Marriot days, the days when they had the cable car going back and forth, the Shock Wave, Z force, etc. Imagine my surprise when I went to get in line for the Great American Eagle and found out that the entrance was moved to make room for Wiggles. Are you kidding me??? Now, I understand that the Eagle doesn’t get the foot traffic it used to, but IT was always a reminder to me how great the ride is when I would see the place where I used to wait in line for 3 hours to get on this ride. Now, it’s a view of spinning teacups and 2mph cars for very little kids. I almost puked. 
